The Slow Web Movement

One new web service that I’ve really been enjoying is iDoneThis. Every day at the same time it emails you and asks “What’d you get done today?”. You simply reply to the email and whatever is in the body the your email becomes your entry for the day. It then adds your entry to a web calendar so you can go back and review what you accomplished. You can use it for a lot of purposes. I mainly use it as a diary/gratitude journal (don’t laugh — Oprah says a gratitude journal will make you happy and I think she’s right).
Anyway, what caught my attention was this at the bottom of each of their daily emails:

iDoneThis is a part of the slow web movement. After you email us, your calendar is not updated instantaneously. But rest up, and you’ll find an updated calendar when you wake.

They actually advertise that they are slow. I’m not sure what the “slow web movement” is, but oddly I find it comforting. Slowness gives the impression of attention like a slow craftsman or a slow meal. In this world of realtime twitter and the 24 hour news cycle there’s something I like about the slow web movement. Maybe they will start a trend and everyone will slow down a bit.

The soft overcomes the hard. The slow overcomes the fast. Let your workings remain a mystery. Just show people the results.-Lao Tzu